


echoes of her ghost

by Areiton



Series: Find Me In the World [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Getting Together, Gifts, M/M, POV Outsider, POV Sheriff Stilinski, Pining, Pre-Slash, Sheriff Stilinski Knows, Sheriff Stilinski is a Good Parent, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Stilinski Family Feels, woodworker Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:11:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: He stares at the puzzle box, the different shades of wood and the way the grain doesn’t quite fit.The way the dark wood is heavier, more prominent in the box, overshadowing the pale wood that fit around it.He stares and grins. The dark wood looks strong--stronger than the pale--but it’s an illusion, a clever trick.





	echoes of her ghost

**Author's Note:**

> This is Sheriff Stilinski's POV. <3

He lived his entire life in Beacon Hills, had spent more of his life protecting it than he hadn’t and never dreamed of leaving.

He _loved_ there, the kind of love you don’t get past, the kind of earthshaking, life redefining, once in a lifetime love he was lucky to have, that he longs for and is grateful for in equal measure.

He lived his entire life in Beacon Hills, until his world changed, until Stiles was taken and came back _different,_ shaken, hollowed out.

He lived his entire life in Beacon Hills and the day Stiles sat on the stairs and said, _I want to leave. I want to leave and I want you to come with me._

He knew that he’d never go back.

Beacon Hills--the supernatural mess that swirled through the Preserve and destroyed so much--it was a black hole that sucked in everything it touched and Stiles wanted to escape it, and he never even hesitated. He put the house on the market, packed everything they owned, left Parrish as interim Sheriff and drove away, with Stiles’ rusty old Jeep rattling behind their Uhaul and they didn’t stop until they hit the East coast.

He’d never regretted it.

He still didn’t regret it. He missed some things--you don’t walk away from everything you’d ever known, the life you’d built--without missing things.

He missed Melissa’s laughter, wry and warm, as they talked on her breaks.

He missed the way the seasons changed, easing from one to the other.

He missed Scott sometimes, the kid who could have been his son, the kid he was absurdly proud of.

He and Melissa had done a good job, with them. Claudia did the groundwork, gave him a solid foundation, and with Melissa’s help, Stiles had grown into a good man.

Sometimes, he wished they could see it, the two women he’d loved, one his beating heart, the other the sister he’d never had.

But the moments came and passed quickly.

Stiles watched him sometimes, like he felt guilty and John knew what it was--that Stiles sometimes regretted asking John to leave with him.

But it had been months since his last panic attack, weeks since the last nightmare, he ran in the woods and had friends, and he smiled, the way John had begun to think Stiles would never smile again. He still carried scars, but Stiles was _happy._

And that made everything he left behind more than worth losing.

Even Melissa.

But the thing is--some things you can’t outrun.

He would never outrun the ghost of Claudia, the first and only woman he loved, and he thinks that Stiles is the same way--he loves with every fiber of his soul, and there is no second chances.

Lydia was his Melissa, the sister of his soul, and John was grateful that Stiles had her--that even now, he has her.

But she wasn’t the love of Stiles life.

He stares at the puzzle box, the different shades of wood and the way the grain doesn’t quite fit.

The way the dark wood is heavier, more prominent in the box, overshadowing the pale wood that fit around it.

He stares and grins. The dark wood looks strong--stronger than the pale--but it’s an illusion, a clever trick.

Take the softer, weaker wood away, and the strong box crumples, unable to hold itself up.

He huffs a laugh and wonder if Stiles has accepted it, yet.

If he knows that Derek Hale is in love with him.

If he knows that _he_ is in love with Derek.

The house looks untouched, feels empty and John sighs. Stares at the wooden box.

Not yet. He doesn’t know yet.

The thing about Derek is that he always felt like an inevitable to John. They fit together in a way that no one could deny, worked together and challenged each other--they were like fire and gasoline, explosive and sometimes destructive, and inevitable.

They were always inevitable.

Even when he stood in Davis’ shop and stared at Derek’s triskle, a ghost from a life they’d left behind, it hadn’t felt like an intrusion so much as a piece of their lives--their new lives--that had been missing finally coming home.

He sighs and lets himself out of the house, drives the two blocks to his little house with a smile on his lips and the ghost of his Claudia filling up the cab of his truck.

He hopes that whatever happens, Stiles doesn’t want to run again.

But if he does--John will run with him. Claudia’s ghost will haunt him and Derek’s will haunt Stiles but they’ll be together and Stiles will be safe and John doesn’t ask for anything more than that, anymore.

 


End file.
